Thoughts on Popular Culture and Unpopular Culture by Jaime J. Weinman (email me)

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Hoppy Hoppy Grasshopper!

Does anyone know who did the voices of the two crows in Friz Freleng's "Two Crows From Tacos" (1956)? Manuel, the dumber crow, is the same guy who does a lot of voices in Speedy Gonzales cartoons (he's the guy who says "I think I kill myself, hold my sombrero, amigo" in "Here Today, Gone Tamale"), and José sounds a bit like he could be Mel Blanc but apparently isn't.

This is an odd cartoon, because it feels exactly like a Speedy Gonzales cartoon (the crows even have the same names as the cats in "Mexicali Schmoes" three years later), but isn't, even though Freleng had already launched the Speedy series. It's also the only time Freleng worked with writer Tedd Pierce after dumping Pierce from his unit in 1950 (replacing him with Warren Foster). There are some really nice sequences, though, like the screaming, whooping interlude in the middle of the lazy opening segment, or Art Davis's animation of the two crows trying to whack the grasshopper.

What Jerry said. Diamond and Holland were both radio vets who went on to voice the Tijuana Toads for DePatie-Freleng. Diamond also had an active on-camera career, notably as Corporal Reyes on Disney's "Zorro" and Crazy Cat on "F Troop."

It has always bugged me that insects in cartoons (prior to A Bug's Life & Antz) are portrayed as quadropeds and not sextopeds. The Grasshopper & the Ants, Jiminy Cricket, that cricket from Mulan all have 4 legs, not 6. I know it must be tougher to draw the extra pair for symmetry but it carries anthropomorphication too far.Other than that, a brilliant cartoon. I had NEVER seen it! (And I've seen a lot.)